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Watch as NASA announces new discovery by planet-hunting telescope

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Space

Watch as NASA announces new discovery by planet-hunting telescope

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are key to the new finding.

by Denise Chow / Dec.14.2017 / 4:37 PM ET

NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has gazed at more than 150,000 stars and continues to transmit back data that leads to important discoveries of celestial objects in our galaxy, including first-time observations of planets outside our solar system.Wendy Stenzel / Ames Research Center/NASA

The space agency has given few details about the discovery, saying only that it involved the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning from Google as part of a new way to evaluate observations made by Kepler.

Since its 2009 launch, the Kepler mission has identified more than 2,300 confirmed exoplanets — that is, planets orbiting stars other than the sun. This tally includes 30 exoplanets that are less than twice the size of Earth and which orbit within the so-called habitable zone, where conditions could support life as we know it.